Dr. Jennifer Lokash was appointed president and vice-chancellor pro tempore on April 6, 2025.

Prior to this appointment Dr. Lokash served as provost and vice-president (academic) at Memorial. Her wide-ranging experience as an academic administrator, her compassionate, equity-driven leadership style, and her steadfast commitment to Memorial’s students, to its academic mission, and to the lands and waters on which its five campuses are situated, have positioned her as a stabilizing and impactful leader during a time of unprecedented challenge and change.

Dr. Lokash is known for bringing teams together and inspiring positive and bold new directions. From 2014-22, she served as head of the Department of English, one of the largest and most complex academic units at Memorial. In that role, Dr. Lokash nurtured a dynamic and optimistic culture, championed student and faculty diversity and success, and facilitated significant program growth and transformational change.

Dr. Lokash’s strong administrative skills have been bolstered by her deep knowledge of the academy. She chaired the Planning and Research Committee for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, co-chaired Memorial’s inaugural Advisory Committee on Sustainability and developed its first Sustainability Action Plan, and in 2019, was appointed to the Joint Gender Equity Salary Adjustment Committee, which resulted in over 300 women faculty members receiving raises.

Following her tenure as head of English she took on the role of interim associate vice-president (academic), and shortly after that was appointed provost and vice-president (academic) pro tempore. She was appointed provost and vice-president (academic) on Jan. 16, 2025. 

A compassionate, dynamic, and collaborative leader, Dr. Lokash seeks to inspire confidence, motivate engagement and empower her teams to reach, grow and thrive together. This approach has always been fundamental to her teaching, but it is also how she strives to support all leaders, colleagues and others, now and into the future. She was the recipient of the 2024 Angela Hildyard Emerging Leader Award, presented by the Senior Women’s Academic Administrators of Canada.